Skiddaw and the Edge

Wednesday 2nd June 2021

The weather during the second week of my holiday in the Lake District was really good, which was just amazing as I have seen bad weather so many times. I was very fortunate. However, the wind that had been negligible over the weekend had now picked up into a brisk, strong wind on the high tops. First, I dealt with the lack of power in my phone by leaving the campsite where I had been staying very early, without having breakfast, and headed into Keswick to the youth hostel where I had my breakfast. It was great to be back in the Keswick Youth Hostel and I enjoyed a full English breakfast while my phone was on charge. After eating I walked to the bus station where I caught a bus to Bassenthwaite and walked along quiet roads including a short section through the wooded gorge of Chapel Beck. Coming off the road, I took a bridleway that climbs steeply beside grassy fields to the fell wall while the hill of Cockup dominated my view. I am very familiar with cockups having done Great Cockup in 2015, which is the fell the other side of the Dash Valley, but I had never done this cockup before. Beyond the fell wall I took the obvious path that climbs up the grassy hillside to the col at the top of Cockup Gill.

The top of Cockup was bypassed as my eyes were on Bakestall, a northern top of Skiddaw that I had previously visited just once before on a descent from Skiddaw, in 2008. After crossing Dead Beck the terrain changed with grass now being replaced by heather all the way up to a prominent cairn, however, after turning right and heading towards Skiddaw, I soon reached another, less significant, cairn beside a fence corner, which is the highest point on the fell, but the Wainwright summit of Bakestall is the prominent cairn where there are great views over the Dash Valley. Climbing the ridge towards Skiddaw, I now had a severe crosswind to handle as well as loose stones underfoot on the path. I had been up Skiddaw three times in the last ten years, but another visit of this Munro-sized mountain would not hurt and I was rewarded for my effort with stunning views across the Lake District, though they were increasingly hazy with distance as they had been since the weekend. I feel as if the weather is often poor, for me, on Skiddaw with snow on several occasions and on this occasion I had a strong wind to contend with, which I was easily able to shelter from on the western slopes looking over the Edge to Bassenthwaite Lake where I had an early lunch before pressing on down steep, stony slopes to Carlside col.

I was mindful of what I had recently read about the potential damage that walking poles can do to hills and realised that the poles were forcing me to stand unnaturally for such a descent. They force you to stand upright whereas it would be better to bend your knees bringing your centre of balance down as low of possible, so I tried to minimise using my poles during my descent of the screes. When I eventually reached the bottom beside Carlside Tarn, I ignored Carl Side, taking the path that heads towards the Edge. I had climbed Carl Side in 2018 so I felt justified in bypassing it on my way to the Edge. My first traverse of the Edge was in 2004 when I descended along the ridge and now I was echoing that walk that starts on the narrowing ridge of Longside Edge to the highest point, dubbed Long Side by Wainwright, where a grand promenade proceeds along the narrow ridge with fabulous views towards the northern plains of Cumbria. Longside Edge ends far too soon at the summit of Ullock Pike beyond which the ridge widens as it descends along the Edge undulating along an interesting ridge that was a joy to traverse where the terrain was not so steep.

Before the final rise on the ridge up to Watches, a clear path veers off to the left and I took this down to a fence that led me into the woodland near the Ravenstone Hotel. Although it was still very early, I had a long walk back to my campsite and I was happy with an early finish after several long days recently. Yellow-topped posts marked a path through the wood that brought me to the Dodd Wood car park where I found a sign for a permissive path to Keswick, but this eventually brought me onto the busy road with no further sign of a path. Therefore, after a short walk beside the road, I branched off onto the minor road through Millbeck and Applethwaite where I took a path across grassy fields back into Keswick where I needed to buy some more food. This was a great walk in stunning weather, particularly when out of the strong winds that were in force on the top of Skiddaw. I enjoyed the sunshine during the long walk back to Keswick and eventually the campsite, but I also appreciated the opportunity to revisit some fells that I had not done in over ten years including the fabulous ridges of Longside Edge and the Edge.